MOSCOW (AFP) – Poland is making itself a target for Russia’s military “100 percent” by hosting elements of a US anti-missile system, a senior Russian general was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency Friday.

“By hosting these, Poland is making itself a target. This is 100 percent” certain, the agency quoted General Anatoly Nogovitsyn as saying.

“It becomes a target for attack. Such targets are destroyed as a first priority,” Nogovitsy was quoted as saying.

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Warsaw and Washington signed a preliminary deal Thursday on basing part of a US missile shield in Poland, in the face of Moscow’s vehement opposition and mounting East-West tensions over Russia’s military presence in Georgia.